


Death By Nubina Atelerix

by afteriwake



Category: Castle, Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 12:42:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castle has a contact for everything, even for figuring out the little critter that’s going to kill them all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death By Nubina Atelerix

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to **darkmagic_luvr** for the suggestion of using [Nubbins](http://sanctuary.wikia.com/wiki/Nubbin) to end the world.

“Where are they?” Kate asked, looking at her watch again. “They were supposed to be here a half hour ago.”

“Not sure, but you had better sit down before you wear a hole in the floor,” Lanie said without looking up from the cards she had. “Besides, it’s your turn.”

Kate sighed and walked over to the table. She picked up the cards she’d laid face down on the table and looked them over before sighing again and looking at Castle, who was pulling some drinks from the fridge. “Do you have any—“

There was a pounding on the door all of a sudden, and Kate jumped up, heading to the door with Lanie and Castle on her heels. She opened it quickly to see Ryan with his arm up about to pound again and Esposito and Montgomery with their weapons drawn, scanning the hallway. “World’s…ending…” Ryan said in between deep breaths.

“Let’s get inside,” Esposito said, taking his eyes off the hallway and pushing Ryan in. They got inside and Castle shut the door, throwing the lock as Alexis and Martha came down from upstairs.

“Captain, what’s going on?” Kate asked as Ryan put a hand on the table and bent over to catch his breath.

“They’re like Tribbles,” Montgomery said, moving towards the window. “They’re multiplying, and then they go invisible, and they’re tearing the city apart.” And top mark how serious the situation was, the lights began to flicker. “And they’re here.”

“Tribbles? You mean the adorably cute Star Trek monsters?” Alexis said.

“Yeah, like those, only…not,” Esposito said. “And we just barely made it here. Whole city’s panicking. You don’t know where they come from when they get you.”

“I don’t understand,” Martha said. “Little critters are destroying New York?”

“Try the entire Eastern seaboard,” Ryan said, standing up again. “We were getting weird calls all evening, and then we decided to get out of there and it was all over the news…”

“The news,” Castle said, moving over to the couch and picking up the remote. He turned on the news and in between brief moments of static a newscaster was on, sounding panicked. They all moved over to the TV and listened.

“These…these _creatures_ , they’re vicious little killers,” he said. “And…and they make you get _aroused_. They look like little furballs with pointy ears and glowing yellow eyes.” Then he got up from behind the desk and went straight to the camera. “They’ll hunt you down! They’ll go invisible and they’ll _hunt you down!_ ” Then he looked down and his eyes got wide. “No! NO! They’re here! They—“ and then it went completely to static.

Castle’s eyes widened and he went to his large book collection. “I know what these things are,” he said, pulling down an old book. “At one point I thought I might try my hand at something else, something supernatural, and I found this book.” He took the book to the table and set it down, flipping through it quickly before stopping. “There.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “Yeah, that’s the thing we saw.”

“Dad, what are they?” Alexis asked as the lights flickered again. Martha moved to get candles and flashlights out from where they were kept.

“Nubina Atelerix,” he said, reading from the page. “I talked to some people, and there’s this shadowy organization called Sanctuary, and they keep things like that. It’s all rumor, but…but.” He shut his eyes. “Come on, Castle, you know what they said about them,” he muttered to himself.

Beckett pulled the book closer. “It says they’re harbingers of fertility and…” She trailed off.

“And what?” Lanie asked.

“And portents of discord if they disappear,” she said quietly.

“Cold!” Everyone turned to Castle. “They don’t like the cold.”

“You must have some amazing contacts to know how to stop them,” Montgomery remarked.

“Quick, we’ve got to get it really cold in here,” he said, going to the thermostat as the lights flickered again. He turned it down to forty. “I have jackets and sweaters if you need them.”

“Probably will,” Esposito said. “You know, since it’s the middle of summer and even the nights are hot?”

“I’ll go get them,” Alexis said, nearly running into Martha.

“Here, dear, take one of these,” she said, handing her granddaughter a flashlight. Alexis took it and hurried up the stairs. Martha set down the remaining flashlights and some candles as the lights flickered again and completely went out. “Oh, dear.”

“Phones,” Castle said. “My contact, I need to call my contact.” He patted himself down and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number. After a few moments someone picked up. “Michael! Have you heard—Yeah, yeah, you told me about—Uh-huh. Right. Got it to forty degrees. Can I what?” He pulled the phone away from his ear. “Shh, everyone,” he said. He went over to the door and put his ear to it, listening. Within moments, everyone else began to hear the sound of squeaking and chattering. “Yeah, I can hear it. Oh. Well, this is their fault, right? How can they…? Ah. Well…fine.” And with that he hung up.

“Good news or bad news?” Beckett asked, lighting one of the candles.

“Well…” He took a deep breath. “As long as they don’t get to the air conditioning unit, we stand a chance.”

“Oh dear God,” Martha said, looking upwards. “We’re going to die at the hands of _rodents_?”

“I hope not,” Ryan said. “That’s just too undignified a way to go.”

“Who was your contact?” Lanie asked.

“A hunter of…he calls them ‘abnormals,’” Castle said as Alexis came back down with sweaters and jackets. “He’s the one who told me about Sanctuary.”

“Well, this is their fault?” Montgomery asked.

Castle shook his head. “Not that he knows of. He’s thinking someone found two of them and brought them here and they began mating.”

“But…he did say we stand a chance, right?” Lanie asked, looking intently at Castle.

He nodded. “Only as long as the air conditioning stays on. But there’s a good chance.” Then he looked down. “I hope.”

“Well, then, I suggest we settle in and wait,” Martha said, going to the table and picking up the cards that had been discarded. “Who’s up for a game of poker?” She smiled at the group before there was a clunking sound and the air conditioner stopped running. “Oh, dear.”

“Crap,” Esposito said under his breath.

“Well,” Montgomery said. “It has been a pleasure to know you all. Let me go call my wife.”

“Might as well wait for the end with a couple cold beers,” Castle said with a sigh. “Any takers?”

“Got anything harder?” Beckett asked. 

“I have an entire liquor cabinet,” he said. Then he turned to his daughter. “Alexis…”

“Can I have some?” she asked.

He thought for a moment, then nodded. “You’re a lightweight, I’ll bet. At least you may pass out quickly.”

“Okay, Dad,” she said.

“Come on, guys. Let’s get shitfaced,” Castle said as he went to the liquor cabinet. They started to drink, and kept drinking as they passed out, one by one. It wasn’t until the next morning that Castle opened his eyes. The place was in a shambles, but he opened his eyes and looked around to see everyone else stirring slightly. “Well, what do you know?” he said quietly to himself, sitting up. “Apparently they don’t like alcohol.”

“Castle?” he heard Beckett say from the couch.

“Yes?”

“Shut up. My head hurts.”

He got up and went to the window, looking down at the destruction on the street. It was eerily quiet, but when he turned back he saw everyone getting up and moving around. “I think we may be some of the few survivors of this,” he said.

“Lucky us,” Esposito said, wincing at the bright light. “I don’t think it’s worth this hangover, though.”

“I wonder how much damage there’s been?” Ryan mused, moving away from his spot near the window.

“Quite a bit,” Castle said. “But I don’t hear them anymore.”

“Does this mean they’re someone else’s problem?” Martha asked, rubbing her temples slightly.

“I’m not sure,” Castle said. He went to where he’d left his cell phone and then turned it on. “No signal.”

“That probably means the cell towers have been destroyed,” Lanie said, moving towards the window to look as well. “So I wonder…”

“Yes?”

“Are we the only ones out there?” she asked, turning to Castle.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But…there’s got to be ways to find out.”

“Then let’s find out,” Beckett said. “ _After_ I get some aspirin.”

“I’ll go get it,” Alexis said. “If we have any left. The whole place looks trashed.”

“It’s just stuff,” Castle said with a nod. “At least we’re still alive.”

“Let’s just hope we aren’t the only ones,” Beckett said.


End file.
